

i LIBRARY OF COKGIIESS. # 




^UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.! 
















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FROM ITS 


Priiiiary Silicioiis anil Siilplinrons Oxyils, 


AND OTHFB 

ELEMENTARY SUBSTANCES AND AGENTS, 


WITH 

Explanations of their Spontaneous Action in Nature’s 
Great Geological Laboratory: First, generating 
the Precious Metals in a crude Oxydized 
Metaniorphic Condition, chemically 
combined with other Mineral 
and Metallic Oxyds. 


TOGETHER WITH 


The Refining Effects of Status Electricity and Volcanic Action in 
the Ultimate Production of both Atomic (or Molecular) 
and FREE Pure Metallic Gold. 

DESCUIBING 

THE ONLY MODE OF PARTING THE GOLD AND SILVER FROM THEIR 
HERETOFORE DEFIATORY GOMBINATIONS BY THE CHEMICAL 
DECOMPOSITION OF THE ORES, AND SUBSEQUENT 
SYNTHETICAL GATHERING OF ALL THOSE 
PRECIOUS METALS. 




IPEICl, 


y<$>- 
"€ 


Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1.S68, by BENJAMIN IIARDINGE, in tlie Clerk’s 
Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. 



Bilker iV (ioilwiii, I'riiilers, No. I S|iruee SI., N. Y 





















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V 






V J HARDIXGE 

u 

ON THE 

ORIGINAL FORMATION OF GOLD, 

FROM ITS 

PRIMARY ELEMENTARY SUBSTANCES, 

Specially iycludin^g Silicious Sulphides ; together 

YTITH OTHER MlNERAL AND METALLIC OXYDS ; ATITH 

A Description of the Progressive Cblanges In¬ 
dispensable TO THE Formation of Gold in Na¬ 
ture’s GREAT Geological Laboratory, and the 
Eefining Agencies of Status Electricity and 
FINAL Volcanic Action in Depositing not only 
“Free Gold,” but Amorphous, Atomic, and Mo¬ 
lecular Gold 

Ill such a condition, so cheinicallv combined in its 
heretofore detiatory ores as to be parted only by chemi¬ 
cal decomposition of its ores. The following pages will 
direct the disheartened miner to the saving of all the 
Gold, instead of only that portion of free Gold which 
constitutes but a small portion of the precious metal in 
most of the qnartzose, pyrites, sidphm’ets, &:c., &c. 

It is now Avell known to many intelligent men, both 
in Europe and America, with whom I have been in cor¬ 
respondence Avith reference to the subjects contained in 
the following pages, that I have been for many years 
ardently and enthusiastically engaged in analytical tests. 



as well as synthetical iwoots ; before I attempted in pub¬ 
lic lectures, more than hve years ago, in this city, to 
prove the origin of the sixty-live elements of matter 
composing our globe ; how these elements were progres- 
generated, and formed into a gaseous nebula, thence 
into a semi-fluid, and thence into a semi-solid si)heroid. 
And not only through what laws and agencies the so-called 
sixty-flve elements of matter were generated and formed, 
but also the simultaneous action of the result of those pro¬ 
gressively generated laws in producing, a priori adposteri- 
us, not only the said sixty-five elements of matter, but also 
their indefinite combinations for our present analyses: 
That we may not only know the how, the why, and where¬ 
fore the materials of which our globe is composed, not 
only of inorganic matter, but also of every type and 
species of organic production, the how and wherefore— 
and especially of the astonishing connection between 
the materials composing both organic and inorganic cre¬ 
ation. When we shall have learned all these facts, we 
Avill have no difficulty in proving our first hypotheses by 
re\'ersed and alternate reasoning, a posteriori ad prius. 

This chapter on gold will therefore be better under¬ 
stood by those who have read with attention my chapter 
upon the “Eokmation of Eocks.” It is known by 
publications long years ago, that I not only claimed the 
aqueous instead of the igneous theory of the first forma¬ 
tion of the rocks; but I submitted my reasons for this 
theory: Not only in the well known spontaneous evidence 
of the alternate periodical jettings out of some of our 
globe’s safety-valves of torrents of liquid quartz, at Ice¬ 
land (the Geyser sirrings) and elseAvhere, also the water 
found in the middle of quartz crystals—especially in 
large as Avell as small geodes —being the supernatant 
water left, after all the crystalline agencies had been 
absorbed; and this said liquid flint having been thus 
deprived of the action of its crystalline law, has thus 
remained in the center of those geodes for many thou¬ 
sands of years ; shut up from any possible means of 


3 


evaporation tliroiig“li the wall of the quartzose geode. 
Water has also been recently found in tine inolecnlar 
divisions in granite by the aid of the microscox>e. 

The ^ ec<ixntnlation ot these tacts at thiSj to inCj late 
day seems unnecessary to every chemist, who ought to 
know from his own individual observation that snlpMde 
of silicmm xdays a great x>art, not only in the formation 
of rocks and minerals ; but in all animally organized be¬ 
ings : And all x)hysicians should immediately understand 
this. See my chax^ter ux)on the anatomical structure, i)hys- 
iological develox)ment, &c. Silicates of lime and albumen, 
nitrous x>hosx)hates of ammonia ; electrical agencies of 
vital x>ower in the animal economy, as well as the vast 
quantity of spontaneous liquor of flint existent all 
over the world ; and taken ux> into the structures of 
Xdants and trees, as well as animals, and s])ontaneously 
also in the ocean taken ux) by the whole family Crustacea; 
to be again dex^osited in vast beds of silicious albumin¬ 
ates ; forming banks of coral rocks (so called); carbo¬ 
nate of lime is another formation; as metamorphic 
changes of rocks of that class prove. 

But our immediate subject is the formation and de- 
X>osit of gold in gold-bearing quartzose rock. The evi¬ 
dence of its x^rimary existence in an amorxhious unrecog¬ 
nizable condition (as gold) ; and how and why it, like all 
the baser metals in this x>articnlar, is a chemical result 
of long ages of changing cond)inations from the first gene- 
rated gases into semi-lluids, thence into semi-solids, thence 
by other ra])idly accumulating agencies into such vast de¬ 
posits of the latent combustive materials described in my 
lengthy chapter upon the OrUjinal Formation of the Foci's, 
Minerals, &c.; and the great variety of geological develop¬ 
ments by volcanic action, and the metamorxdiic changes 
ad interim ; and the second volcanic x^eriod which dex)os- 
ited gold in the various conditions, both free and in 
chemical combinations aforesaid —the latter conditions 
reciuiring the means of chemical decomx)osition, gather¬ 
ing, x^iirting, &c. When we look into and shall have 
satisfied ourselves with reference to the causes and 


4 


results of our conclusions ; aided as we all are by very 
many incentives to the proofs as to cause and effect ; we 
can easily account for all those heretofore unexplained 
phenomena ; as also how the gold-bearing seams (or lodes) 
became so formed in diagonal or transverse directions 
through the quartzose dykes, during their evident wind¬ 
ings, seethings, surgings, and contortions, when in a 
liquid state ; in which condition, laminar or homogene¬ 
ous, the seams aforesaid are evidently the filling in of 
cracks or fissures caused by cooling and shrinkage, 
where these fillings are upheavals from the still liquid 
compound far down toward the center of the globe’s 
vast cauldron : And crystallization was aided in these, 
as well as in the quartzose dykes, by heat. 

It is known to manyj that about four-fifths of all the 
rocky portion of our globe are quartzose sulphides, de¬ 
posits ; accompanied in most localities with all other 
mineral oxyds. If we strike a piece of quartz against 
a steel, the coucentrated frictional electricity not only 
emits fire, but a strong evidence of suli)hur is known 
to be present by the smell. The residuary reddish-yel¬ 
low powder (often found by the gold-miners) deposited 
in the fissures and small cavities of gold-bearing quartz, 
suggested the question to my mind that this was the 
supernatant sulphide, or sulphurous oxyd of gold, and 
experiments since have proved it. Fifteen years ago, 
I was intensely and inactically at work in the eftbrts of 
synthetically forming solids from their elementary sub¬ 
stances artificially prepared by me in this city, corner 
of Jane and Washington Streets, with a view of dissolv¬ 
ing gold-bearing quartzose sulphurets, through the 
agency of “superheated steam and carbon, together 
with the introduction of the smallest possible quantity 
of the cheapest solvent salts.” See the wording in my 
pamphlet, published in October 1850, and four columns 
and a lialf from my pen in the N. Y. Tribune, bearing 
date February 17th, 1857, accompanied with the spon¬ 
taneous eulogies of distinguished metallurgists upon my 


5 


practical productions up to that time. And it is well 
known to my learned friends, that I have been as ardently, 
enthusiastically, and practically at work ever since, to 
the completion and acme of my highest ambition; and 
upon which the reader will find in other chapters clearly 
defined and elucidated. 

In 1850 I filed in the Patent Office the mode of treat¬ 
ing ten tons at a time of gold-bearing sulphurets, in man¬ 
ner and construction of furnace and digester different, 
with the view of making sulphuric acid at the same 
time, entirely dispensing with the use of a retort. 

As my own cold porcelain, when hardened, resists the 
action of sulphuric acid, and the fact that sulphuric 
acid is carried to market and kept for any length of 
time iir green glass carboys, suggested the idea last 
above named. It was at the period last above named 
that I had become acciuainted with, and called into my 
aid and action, for the several last years, the services of 
Prof. A. L. Pleury, an educated gentleman and chemist 
of the University of Munich, in Bavaria. Prof. Pleury has 
been most of tlie time domiciliated with me, and con¬ 
stantly engaged, without loss of time, in metallurgic 
chemistry ; and part of the snmmer months practically 
engaged in the mines. Ilis printed reports in some 
of the mining Journals indicate and bring to the minds 
of many scientific men his industrial i)erseverance, as 
well as some new discoveries which will be interesting to 
introduce here, along with other instructive correlative 
facts pertaining to our subject. 

Prof. Pleury, in the introduction to his printed reports, 
first asks the all-inii)ortant (piestion, “ Why do our chem¬ 
ists find hundreds of dollars of gold per ton in ores Avhich, 
when worked at the mill, do not pay the expense of mining? 

“ There is no doubt there have been many swindles 
per])etrated upon the public, during the last gold mania, 
but I feel satisfied in my mind that many ores that are 
now deemed worthless, will enrich some men beyond 
their own expectations.” 


6 


It may be well to quote from Prof. Pleury’s lecture 
upon gold before the Historical Society at Boston, Mass., 
as reported of record and filed in the archives of that 
distinguished fountain of scientific knowledge. Dr. 0. T. 
Jackson, President; as also before the Polytechnic Asso¬ 
ciation of the Academy of Arts and Sciences at Oooi)er 
Institute in this city, which also met a cordial response 
from all the men of science present on that memorable 
night of March 12th, 1808. 

“All modern accounts agree in tracing the origin of 
gold to veins of quartzose and schistose character. 
Wherever gold is found, either in the sand of rivers, or 
in diluvial deposits, or in rocks, we ever find it enshrined, 
or, at least, in close proximity to silica, either as quartz 
or as clay slate, or as another more complex silicious 
combination. There are some exceptions, however, but 
these are few in number. 

“ Gold, in various proportion, is found in most of the 
metallic sulphurets, arseniurets, and other similar com¬ 
pounds, either combined or free ; but these are mostly 
embedded in quartzose veins, or disseminated in schis¬ 
tose rocks. 

“ In order to understand more fully why gold is found 
in the sulphurets and other analogous combinations, and 
these again are enclosed in quartz veins, we must trace 
out the origin of quartz itself. 

“We have here several pieces of quartz ; they all con¬ 
tain various metallic sulphurets, and some show traces 
of free gold, all of which are firmly embedded in the 
crystalline silicious mass. How did the sulphurets and 
the gold get into the quartz, and what agency forced the 
quartz through the fissures of the rocks ? 

“We all know that quartz is a product of aqueous and 
not igneous origin. We have ample proofs to that 
effect in the presence of volatile metals, such as anti¬ 
mony, arsenic, zinc, and others, also in the presence of 
water in geodes, and the close proximity to hydrated and 
carbonated minerals. The theory of the injection of 


7 


quartz as a glassy, highly-heated mass, by volcanic 
agency, has been superseded by the more sensible one of 
aqueous action. 

“ Eeading the clear and beautiful explanation given by 
Prof. Fremy, in Paris, of the origin of the Geyser 
springs, and studying over his experiments with bisul¬ 
phide of carbon on silica, alumina, etc., I could not help 
coming to the conclusion that nearly all quartz in nature 
oices Us existence to tJw decomposition of sulphide of silicium 
hj ivater. 

“ To make this idea clear, I must digress a little, and 
state my own views on the condition of the interior of 
our globe. 

“ Firstly, I believe in the existence of intense heat in 
the centre of our globe—a heat of such intensity that 
all the elements are thereby kept in an incandescent gas¬ 
eous condition. 

“Around the gaseous commingled matter I conceive, 
at first, a very liquid melted mass, attached to a half 
solid, somewhat plastic crust, which, as it gets farther 
from the centre, cools, and, in its ettbrt of expanding, 
breaks into fragments. The crust of our earth (probably 
forty miles in thickness), I conceive full of crevices and 
immense caverns, some of which, by i)assages of various 
dimensions, communicate with each other, and are ever 
changing, according to outward radiation of heat, con¬ 
densation, and cooling of matter."^ 

“For the sake of illustration, I will call granite npri¬ 
mary roch — though I think that many rocks of by far 


* I do not agree with my scientific friend with reference to forty miles’ 
thickness of the earth’s crust, or that there is anything like uniformity of 
thickness, or that all the centre is a molten mass; but that ignition exists 
wherever fissures admit communication of oxygenated gas from between 
cavities, and that these cavities are increasing as metallics oxydize and 
minerals decompose, and will finally deposit and accumulate vast and 
irresistible accessions to the superabundant latent combustive materials; 
and that this globe will be destroyed by increased and increasing volca¬ 
noes, at no very distant period ! See my chapter on “ The Formation of 
the Earth.” II-. 







8 


greater age than granite exist below, which to our surface 
rocks coinpare as our soil does to our oivn rocics. 

“ AVhen granite, or any other coinx)ound or simide sili¬ 
cate, is, while under pressure and a bright red heat, 
exposed to vapors of carbon and sulphur (both of which 
exist in abundance in the interior of our earth), the silica 
is decomposed : the oxygen of the silica combines Avith 
the carbon and forms carbonic oxyd and carbonic acid, 
Avhile the suli)hur seizes ui>on the silicium and forms 
sulphide of silicium, a white earthy mass, withstanding a 
great degree of heat. 


“ As the interior crust of our earth is continually acted 
111)011 by cosmic disturbances, either by the gravitation of 
our own terrestrial substance, or by solar, lunar, or pla¬ 
netary influences, a gradual or sudden condensation, 
cooling, and breaking of the harder portions of the rocks 
takes place ; water riisliesinto the crevices, and, reaching 
the siiliihide of silicium and other sulphides, is instantly 
decomposed in its turn by the sulphide of silicium into 
oxygen and hydrogen. Sulphuretted hydrogen gas and 
a hydrate of silica are formed, both of which are soluble 
in water, and easily carried along by steam. The u])])er 
cavities, mostly tilled ivith water impregnated with car¬ 
bonic acid, which in itself is a great solvent and combining 
medium for metallic oxyds, such as Iron, Cop])er, and 
others (all of which, no doubt, exist dissolved in this 
water), are suddenly broken into by these Avater A^apors, 
carrying the hydrated silica and sulphuretted hydrogen 
Avith them, and the oxyds, hydrates, and other metallic 
solutions are broken up ; the suli)hur of the sulphuretted 
hydrogen seizes upon the metals, forms thereA\ith sulph¬ 
ides, and the aa hole mass is forced upwards, together Avith 
the liquid (piartz. The hydrated silica, carrying the hea¬ 
vier sulphuretted metals in the centre, comes in contact 
Avith the cool atmosphere and the cold sides of the 
crevices, and a gelatinization and gradual crystallization 
takes place—the sulphurets crystallizing in the quartz. 

“ I can reproduce, artificially, in a small A\ ay, AAdiat na- 


9 


tiire has done on a large, gigantic scale : I can heat granite 
to a white heat, expose it to tlie vapors of ]>isulplii(le of 
carbon, then treat the sulphides resulting therefrom by 


steam, and carry the hydrate of silica and sulphuretted 
hydrogen into a basin containing carbonate of iron or 
other metallic solution, when tlic silica will l)e seen to 
gelatinize slowly, and the sulphurets of iron or copper 
crystallize in the silica. After this digression we will 
return to our chief subject, gold. 


“I believe that gold is an elementary meUxlViG substance 
like iron, copper, zinc, etc., and have no faith in the 
alchemistic idea of commuting baser metals into gold, 
which idea, from time to time, reappears occasionally 
among the savans on the other side of the water.'^' (Perhaps 
no better origin could be ascribed to the element, gold, 
than that the President ruling the regions below has re¬ 
fined his own favorite beverage, hrimstone, into gold, and 
has presented it as a fit material for a golden calf to 
Moses and Aaron and our anxious bulls and bears of the 
gold-room.) 

“Experiments Avhich I have made in my own labora¬ 
tory, have led me to the following original ideas : 


“ 1. That gold exists in nature in<two distinct allotropic 
conditions : In a metallic, molecular, crystalline state, with¬ 
standing the action of oxydizing agents under ordinary 
conditions, and in an amorphous, non-metaHic ami oxydii- 
ahle form. Plumbago and lampblack may illustrate this 
idea. The former, like metallic gold, is heavy, a good 
conductor of electricity, and has all the appearance of a 
metal, while the latter, the lampblack, is easily oxydized, 
is light, is a non-conductor of electricity, and is amor¬ 
phous. 


I do not believe that any or either of the metals or minerals are of 
themselves “ original elements,'''' bnt results of the progressive aggregation 
generating the first element, then the second, third and fourth; first in a 
gaseous form, thence into semi-fluid, thence semi-solid, tfec., &c. [See 
my chapter on the “Formation of the Earth.”] IT-. 

2 







10 


“2. That in siilpliiirets the gold is mostly present in 
both modihcations, and may sometimes be tonnd in a 
chemically combined state. 


“I will here cite a curious experiment, which gives a 
fair illustration of what I say : 

“A quantity of finely i)ulverized sulphnrets from a rich 
mine in Colorado, Montana, or California, is, at first, 
carefully treated in a close vessel, with mercury-vai)ors, 
then cooled and washed, the mercury separated, and the 
resulting quantity of gold weighed. The sulphnrets, 
after having been thus treated, are then mixed with fine 
charcoal dust and plumbago, an equal quantity of each, 
placcHl into a carbon crucible, and this into a porcelain 
retort, which has a tube attached, through w^hicli the 
gases that escai)e during the heating of the crucible can 
be passed into a chlorine solution. When the crucible is 
slowly brought to a red heat, bisulphide of carbon issues 
forth, and at the same time the chlorine solution darkens ; 
when tested with sulphate of iron or oxalic acid, a pre¬ 
cipitate of gold is obtained. This volatilized gold is not 
absorbed bij mercury. If the desuli)hurized remaining ore 
is then again treated with mercury-vapor, as before, 
cooled and w aslied, a third quantity of gold is separated. 

“This and a number of other observation s, have brought 
me to think that gold teas, and still is, existing in nature 
in a chem ically combined state, not only with suljyliur hut also 
w ith silica as a silicate of the oxide of gold An O Si as a 
silicide of gold An Si, and, i)erhaps, in many other simi¬ 
lar combinations. I ask you simi)ly, my hearers : Bid 
we ever loolc for gold in a different state from the metallic f 
We speak of invisible gold : w^e luepare in our laborato¬ 
ries solutions of gold, auric oxides, sulphides, and'other 
combinations, and deny to nature, ivhich we only imitate. 


the right and i)rivilege to have used the same means, 
simply because our books say otherwise or nothing of it! 

“Why can we not oxydize gold in its metallic state, 
without first dissolving it f I think it is simply for the rea¬ 
son that it has to be brought to an atomic, amorphous 


n 


state, and suhdlvision, before it is acted upon by oxygen 
or sulplinr. 

“ Eose-colored quartz is by miners considered quite a 
reliable indication that gold may be expected at greater 
depth. By smelting glass with purple of cassius, oxyd 
of gold, auric acid, or even tinely divided precipitated 
gold, we produce a splendid crimson glass, which, if a 
smaller quantity is used, has the color of rose. If rose- 
colored quartz is chemically decomposed with fluoride of 
calcium, gold can easily be detected in the result. I have 
witnessed many experiments, and made myself, while in 
Boston, a number of tests with various fluorides, such as 
cryolite, fluorspar, and the so-called Stevens’ flux,—all 
giving me the evidence that the opinion expressed by 
Prof. Bischoft*, in Bonn, the best authority we have in 
chemical geology, that gold, as well as platinum, may 
derive its origin from the decomposition of silicates, is 
well founded.” 

Prof. Fleury ])resented a long catalogue of the com¬ 
binations of gold chemically ])repared in the laboratory, 
not only the aqueous but the dry way, to illustrate his 
proofs that all these may be spontaneously produced by 
nature in the great geological laboratory ; and after the 
exhibit of the auro family relationship, he proceeded to 
the important point, viz : the extraction of gold from its 
various ores, and adds : 

“ The experience of the last live years (and a bitter ex¬ 
perience indeed it has been for many) has taught us a 
lesson ; namely, not to engage caiutal in a business be¬ 
fore we understand it, practically as well as theoreti¬ 
cally, at least in its most important parts. 

“The manner in which gold-mining companies have 
been raised (quite an appropriate name for such an o])er 
ation), during the gold epidemic in this and other cities, 
is too well known to be here mentioned, and 1 will only 
draw a pencil sketch, describing one of the many offices 
down town, Avhere stock certiflcates of the many reported 
•flourishing Colorado, Montana, and other gold compa- 


12 


iiies were sold to tlie poor pigeons avIio, attracted by the 
liatteriiig and glowing report of an uninterested fashion¬ 
able friend, called at one of these praised boAvers of 
Avealth. 

“ Imagine yourself stepping into a large, Ayell-lighted, 
and splendidly furnished office on llroadAA^ay. You see 
seA^eral mahogany desks (such as rresidents oidy use), 
Avith soft cushioned arm-chairs for confidential chats x)laced 
l)eside them, and a long table, made of some expensive 
AYOod, in the centre, Avliere the daily journals are placed 
for Mr. Gentleman Usher (not of the ‘ black rod ’) to hand 
to the anxious adventurer Avaiting his turn Avith the noAV 
occupied valuable time of the ensconsed Secretary. 

“ Heaps of glittering and sparkling ores (the so called 
fool’s gold of the miners), sulphurets of iron and copper, 
are, as if accidentally throAAm there, ingeniously ar¬ 
ranged so as to give the unsophisticated stranger at once 
a startling idea of the immense Avealth of the comi)any’s 
mines. SeA^eral gentlemen, dressed in the height of 
fashion, mostly headed by a venerable president-looking 
individual, are seated at their respectiA e desks, the 'old 
gentleman occupying another i)riA ate office in an en¬ 
closure. AVheneAw a stranger enters the office, all is 
bustle and business. You see enormous ledgers, stock- 
books, checks, and letters, ready to be handed down at a 
moment’s notice ; errand-boys and clerks appear and dis¬ 
appear rapidly (of course some bringing in lieaA-y orders 
for shares of stock), and the superlicial obserA^er is im- 
[)ressed Avith the extent and inii)ortance of the business. 
The President, after some minutes’.delay, admits you to 
his sanctum, and, Avitll a most Avinning Avay and bencA'O- 
lent condescension, explains to you the enormous income 
that Avill be made by the Comi)any after all the machines 
that hav^e been sent out are put to Avork. Just then the 
Cashier hurriedly appears, and holding ui) the bank-book 
to the President in such an ingenious Avay as to let you, 
too, see the large balance in favor of the Company, asks, 
in audible AAdiisper, of course, if there are any more de- 
[)osits to be made, the shares of the company being all 


13 


sold with the exception of a few odd shares, which, how¬ 
ever, have been spoken for by some hanking-house, 

. and will be sold next day. Few gentlemen, I believe, 
left the office without having purchased the fetv odd 
shares as a great bargain, and after some time they have 
found, to their great mortification, that the beautifully 
engraved certificates were the fancy rei)resentatives of 
some “wild-cat” company. Of course the fashionable, 
uninterested friend, who took you to see the Elephant, 
gets a good commission, and is ever ready, should you 
meet him again, to tell you with woful countenance, that 
he, too, has lost heavily. 

“ Can we wonder, my friends, that our capitalists be¬ 
come shy and adverse to mining enterprises? As one 
bubble after the other bursts, and the blissful ignorance 
of the companies becomes known, we cannot blame any¬ 
body for holding back and asking for better information. 

“ When this pernicious, Avild, and speculative excite¬ 
ment shall have died away, gold-mining will be carried 
on as a regular business, depending not from the sale of 
shares of stock, and the ups and downs of the stock mar¬ 
ket, but from its own- products. 

“ Knowledge is spreading rapidly. The well-managed 
Mining School in this city, and other private institutions, 
will extend beneficial and healthful influences into our 
mining regions. They Avell deserve the thanks and en¬ 
couragement of the nation.” * 

I Avill introduce here Prof. Fleury’s reports of nearly 
all the dilterent methods heretofore resorted to, to 
obtain gold from its ores. 

“ The various methods of working gold ores can be di¬ 
vided into three classes, the mechanical, the chemical, 
and the mixed, combining the use of both methods. 


♦ Tlie General Government has been as derelict in this department as in 
the protection and development of her other vast resources. [See my chap¬ 
ter upon the portentous financial as well as i^olitical condition of the Govern¬ 
ment, and the immediate correctives which I have submitted as 
indispensable to its prosperity ! H-. 



u 


“ The mechanical method is certainly the simidest, and 
consists in crashing the ore to powder, by means of 
staini)s or crushing machines, and in extracting the gold 
by means of amalgamating the precious metal with 
(piicksilver or mercury. The more i)erfect the crushing 
and i)ulverizing iwocess, the better, of course, is also the 
result obtained by the amalgamation. The crushing of 
ore is mostly done by the well-knowm old-fashioned 
stamp mills. Some use steam or compressed air stamps; 
some adopt Whelpley and Storer’s centrifugal crusher 
and pulverizer, all of which seem to be imiwovements on 
the old stamp mill, and certainly work well where they 
are in good hands, and connected Avith machine shops 
and foundries. A new crusher (Wagner’s patent) is now 
on exhibition in this city, and works as well as any other 
I have yet seen. The principal feature of this machine 
is the ingenious manner of crushing the ore hy attrition. 
I have seen four hundred pounds of hard quartzose Mex¬ 
ican Sih er ore pulverized in eighteen minutes’ time to a 
l)owder so tine that most could i)ass through a No. 100 
sieve. It Aveighs about four tons, and is very sim[)le and 
compact in its construction. 

“The old amalgamating system of running the puh^er- 
ized ore with aa ater over amalgamated copper plates is noAv 
gradually giA ing way to more perfect, though more com¬ 
plicated methods. Some run tlie ore into A^ariously con¬ 
structed i)ans, AA here, Avith assistance of heated Avater, a 
more perfect mechanical mixture of the ore with the mer¬ 
cury is obtained. This is more esi)ecially the case since 
Professor Henry Wurtz, of this city, has made the inter¬ 
esting discovery that the addition of a small i)ortion of 
sodium metal to the mercury increases the atiiuity of the 
gold for the amalgam ; in most cases a considerably in¬ 
creased yield of gold has thereby been obtained. The 
Freyburgh barrel, as Avell as Wykoff’s process of boiling 
the ore Avith salt Avater and mercury, Avhereby some of 
the sulphurets are decomposed, haA^^, Avhen carefully 
worked, given good results. Another, the “Staats 


15 


Amalgam ator,” treats the i)ulverize(l ore in a closed and 
heated revolving iron boiler, with steam and mercury 
(in vapor form), whereby also very favorable results are 
obtained. I beg to mention here my own recently-in¬ 
vented gold extractor, whereby in tw'enty-four hours ten 
tons of tailings or pulverized ore can be worked hy one 
man at a cost not exceeding fifty cents per ton. Prof. 
Benj’n Hardinge, of No. 20 Waverly Place, New 
York City, has the sole control of all those pat¬ 
ents. [See Kecords at the Patent Office.] One of 
these machines (engine and boiler G hi), not included) 
can be made for one thousand dollars. The cost of 
amalgamating by the most ordinary method is about one 
dollar per ton. 

“My Gold Extractor has one great advantage over 
others, and this is that no handling of plates nor separate 
distillation is required, the same all being done automat¬ 
ically. The retort is connected with the mercury-bath 
in such way that the amalgam can be run into the retort 
and the gold obtained witliout disturbing the operation 
by distillation in vacuum. A very efficient chemica 
agent assists in decomposing the snlphnrets. 

“ We will now take up another system of treating the 
gold ores,— the chemical method. We will subdivide it 
into the wet and dry, or hre treatment. The wet method 
we will call that by which the gold is extracted from the 
ore in the form of an a(pieous solution, the so-called 
chlorine process. As, however, this treatment requires 
mostly a previous roasting of the ore, we w ill give at lirst 
to this interesting topic some attention. 

“ We have show n that when sulphurets in pow der form 
are treated with mercury, the gold was very imperfectly 
amalgamated, and could not all be extracted, only a 
comparatively small amount of the precious metal 
uniTing with the mercury ; and that a perfect and careful 
roasting of the ore is required, as well as also a conden¬ 
sation of the resulting vapors.” 

Prof. Eleury had the candor to attribute to me his 
first recognition of a mode of treating the sulphuretted 


16 


ores in the manner described, addiiii^ a lieartfelt eulogy 
“upon my indnstrions habits, extraordinary ])ersever- 
ance, Wehsterian memory, good liiimor, and an irre¬ 
sistible habit of illustrating my most abstruse investi¬ 
gations by anecdotes,” &c. As a further evidence of 
my special wealmess in this particular, the reader is at 
full liberty to refer to the appendix. I admit that this is 
my besetting sin, and that I furnished my said protege 
with a perfect description of the Gold Quartz Com¬ 
pany, Office No. —, in Broadway. 

And I can daguerreotype another picture, to which 
both Prof. F. and myself alluded on said occasion; 
showing how many capitalists have been duped out of 
hundreds of thousands by an astute, foxy ignoramus, 
who copied a few sentences from my pamphlet pub¬ 
lished in 1856, without altering the wording. He 
did not know even the meaning of the words he was 
reading; for he asked what they meant while he was 
getting a patent agent to attach his affidavit to them 
as “ his first and original invention,” «&c. He obtained a 
patent and led many a dupe into a glorious waste of 
money, during the last nine years ; * not oidy at gold 
mines but everywhere else where his ignorant, ape- 
shaped brain has showed itself, with forehead villain- 
ousljf low.” Let those best acquainted look at this (to 
them) interesting i)ictin’e of a perjured ignoramus; 
and see if this also is a true likeness. It would be 
a waste of my valuable time to dwell ni)on such 
unfortunate instruments as have too lonir fijrured 
in the (to them) more certain process of extracting 
gold ” from the iwckets of the less refractory greenhorn- 
blende lodes, which have been successfully worked by 
Peter Funks, who have their eagle-roosts in the tops of 
New York hotels, aided by parasites of the press and 
gastro-pod go-betweens, as numerous as bed-bugs in this , 

* All tills time I kept on working, and inventing, and superceding 
studying and working in my laboratory at Woodlawn and elsewhere, and 
am now presenting results. 







17 


great city, and as ready to bite and bleed the unwary 
sleeper upon Ids well stuffed pillow of the now porten¬ 
tous and doubtfully destined legal tenders, 

“ Wliat! do you mean to insinuate ? &c.” Yes ; not 
only insinuate, but state facts, which must present 
themselves to every reflecting, intelligent man. You 
may And all the reasons in a chapter upon this imi)ort- 
ant subject (from my imn) elsewhere. Albeit, I am no¬ 
body’s politician. I have neither time or disposition to 
take either side, and join in the pernicious waste of time 
and money in the Don Quixote flght of i>olitical wind¬ 
mills, while the only correctives to the salvation of the 
country, the preservation of this once glorious Union, 
the perpetuity of American free institutions to the fu¬ 
ture safety of our children, are almost entirely lost sight 
of! See particulars ux>on this most important of all 
subjects at present, under its proper heading, where 
you will find the only correctives humbly submitted to 
every true intelligent American. But I must first 
dispose of the present subject, with such digressions 
(only) as have an illustrative tendency to a plain mat¬ 
ter-of-fact elucidation, as well as uncomprondsing ex¬ 
pose, of our whole subject. And I am bold to further 
state that our geological, mineral, and metalliferous 
theories, as heretofore taught and printed “/or the use of 
schools, colleges, dec.,” are based upon nonsensical error 
from the very foundation. And it appears to be high 
time that these vague, contradictory theories be brought 
out and exi)osed to the sunlight searching analyses of 
scientific investigation; submitting mine, with the “ipso 
dixit ” of every other claimant to other opinions, to test 
them and i)rove them practically and scientifically, both 
in analytical and synthetical reasoning from cause to 
efleet, and effect back to cause, submitting clear and 
une(iuivocal, practical and incontrovertible evidence. The 
])resent 1ms got to become an age of facts, instead of the 
vague, old-fogy breath of guess-work of the teachings 
of our old masters or authors, who found it less trouble 
3 


IS 


to copy than to tliink for tlieinselves and reason for 
themselves, and work the nninher of necessary long' 
years before they can know, of a certainty, not only of 
the hows, whys, and wherefores — the generated laws 
and simnltaneons action in the first conglomeration and 
aggregation of the first elements of nature. The origin 
of all rocks and all minerals : And how 

“ With trees, and plants, and flowery birth, 

A naked globe he crowned. 

Ere there was rain to bless the earth. 

Or sun ” (did) “ warm the ground.” 


And last, not least (in the estimation of a few), of what 
materials ive ourselves are made, and by what laws are 
kept in motion — subject of thought, sympathy, devo¬ 
tion — some more, some less, some none at all, and say 
themselves cannot control—and prove it by phrenology. 
But see chapter on “Man,” as a inentcdhj as Avell as jdiysi- 
calhj organised l)eing, and what the inspired recorder 
meant to convey as to his divisions of time—and 
in the Hebrew—and how soon, in the same short 
account, he finds “ good gold in Havilah.” 

This, our i)resent subject, is that most attractive and 
most seductive of all elements, because of its most com¬ 
manding of all powers that be. Hence the wise man said 
that GOLD answereth to all things. Albeit among his 
many admonitions and cautions to the young man, on 
whom he more emphatically enjoins, among “ all his 
getting, to get understanding,” he (Solomon) exhibited in 
himself a great i)roclivity for gathering Gold. The same 
kind of ''good gold'' that Moses described to have been 
found in the land of "Havilah,’' in the same chaiher in 
which he says, “a mist went up from the earth.” This 
was the smoke of Geology’s great cauldron, after the 
general volcanic period Avhicli chemically refined and 
l)roduced nuggets as Avell as atoms of metallic gold, 
which Moses says Avas "good gold.” And noAV, as nug- 


19 


gets are few and far between, let ns see how, in what 
manner, they were produced, not only in Havilah of 
^87Pt? Havilahs of this great American Pa¬ 

radise, with her almost countless millions of gold and 
silver—now, not only accessible by the Pacilic 11. 11. and 
branches, but by improved scientitic means of separating 
these inexhanstible supplies of tlie precious metals, from 
their heretofore detiatory hiding-places. But more es¬ 
pecially now that, in accordance with the anthem which 
rises away n])on the breeze, in (Eolian enchantment, 
sweei^ing across the La Platte, and echoing among the 
Pocky Mountains a response to the earliest sentiment 
and song which the morning sun of this, then, young and 
promising republic suggested to the, now,* wounded 
sx)irit of the American bard who wrote : 

“ The morning sun shines from the east, 

And spreads his glories to the west; 

All nations with his beams are blest 
Where’er his radiant light appears. 

So Science spreads her lucid ray 
O’er lands which long in darkness lay ; 

She visits fair Columbia, 

And sets her sons amongst the stars. 

Fair Freedom, her attendant, waits 
To bless the portals of her gates; 

To crown the young and rising States 
In glories of immortal dates.” 

It appears to have been the order of Providence that 
the opening out of scientitic discoveries, and progress 
and advancement of the arts, should first take their 
rise with the eastern sun, and spread Avitli him their 
glorious luminaries which have lit the ponderous wheels 
that are now rolling over the Pocky Mountains to the 
shores of the Pacific, laden with the products of the 
long and diligent toil of the philosopher, sparkling with 

* I have reference to the present cloud which hangs over the horizon of 
the political and moral, as well as the general portentous financial destiny 
of this great Republic. 







20 


the (liaiiioiuls of genius, and spiced Avitli tlie odors of 
Parnassus. There are now arising evidences of the most 
reciprocal responses in California, not only in xdiysical 
but mental, moral, and i)olitical distinction, whicli Avill 
come to the rescue, if the intelligence of the Atlantic 
States will but rouse themselves to a proper sense of 
true patriotic duty, and sx)eedily adoi)t the means of 
saving their country from i)ending anarchy and inevi¬ 
table disintegration. I will cite J. H. itay. Esq., known 
to hiine in San Francisco, Cal., for the last eighteen 
years, not only as one of the most enterprising men liv¬ 
ing, but for his honesty of i)urj)ose as well as thorough¬ 
ness of action. He wrote me that he had proven that 
“not a tithe of the gold is saved.” I hope he will excuse 
the liberty, but 1 cite him as an instaromnium of very 
many of our most useful and most x)roniising men in Cal. 
from the Atlantic States, who will at no distant day 
come in with money and gigantic intellects to the rescue 
and perx)etuity of the genius, the institutions of their 
country,* “ their home, their native land.” 

The facilities which the comx)letion of railroad con¬ 
nection between the two oceans will afford, will be incon¬ 
ceivably great for the developments of greater resources 
than ever belonged to any half a dozen nations of the 
earth before, especially the production of the precious 
metals, providing the means be adoi)ted to keep the 
gold in the country and the ways and means are in manu¬ 
script, and will form an interesting chapter to every 
American who has his country’s best interests at heart, 
and who wishes to i)reserve'and keep alive the genius 
of the republic, and perx)etuate her free institutions to 
his posterity. More of this anon. But now to the 
tirst getting the gold. (Mrs. Glass said, “First catch 
your rabbit.”) And in order to catch our gold, we must 


* Genii of American stamp, sealed witli tokens of hereditary crest, and 
strongly wrought the die that does the image bear; who will ever echo 
back to their Cradle of Liberty and Independence the song of their youth 
which I have revived on the 19th page to be loudly chtmted in the 
proud Temples of California. 







21 


hrst tiiid out, where that sparsely disseminated arti¬ 
cle is hidden in its heretofore detiatory matrix ; for gold 
ai)pears to x)ossess an innate, indescribable intelligence, 
not only after it conies from the mint, and finds cautions 
way into circulation, xdaying Mde-aml-ffo-seeic from tin 
boxes and old stockings into the vaults of the miser, 
thus acting ont the transmitted concei)tions of Dame 
Nature’s whole processes down to the full development 
and parturition of pure virgin gold. But it devolves 
upon me alone to explain its original capricious changes 
as to rule of choice in localities, during its chrysanralian 
changes from its nnrecognizable amorphous condition, 
as Avell as its determination to refuse the bait of quick¬ 
silver, so long as it chemically clings to its snlphnretted 
qnartzose mother. Onr business is also, as first above sta¬ 
ted, to present the result of the experience of those intelli¬ 
gent prospecters as well as iiractical workers—those whose 
reports are based ni)on comparative induction, after hav¬ 
ing spent years of trial in many ditferent localities in Cali¬ 
fornia, North Carolina, and then a year or two in the more 
recently discovered gold-bearing qnartzose rocks of Nova 
Scotia. They will tell yon of veUis or lodes of gold-bear¬ 
ing qnartzose rock of every conceivable a ariety of com¬ 
bination, besides snlphnrets of iron, titaiiite arsenite, &c., 
so common to California and North Carolina. They will 
also tell yon of the resistable Whenstone and shistose de¬ 
tiatory ores of all volcanic regions. They will tell yon of 
white quartz veins Avhere the iron has long since oxy- 
dized, and renders such a eins easily quarried. Why in 
A'eins, and Avhy the gold ia the veins ? (See my pam¬ 
phlet, “On the Formation of Eocks,” and yon will be 
l)roperly guided in your prospecting for gold-bearing 
quartz.) The object of this chapter is more to show 
in Avhat condition gold exists in all those veins of every 
name and description—the Avhy and wherefore of those 
ditterent conditions—the reasons Avhy miners luiA^e not 
been successful in getting a tithe of the gold by the 
usual processes of Avorking; albeit the chemical tests 
of the assayist had proven beyond all doubt the exist- 


22 


eiice of a good paying proportion of gold in tlie lode 
wliicli had so disappointed the disheartened worker. 
The reasons of these disappointments will be fully 
understood by reading Avith close attention my Avork 
upon the formations of the rocks and minerals, together 
with the deposits Avhich Anlcaidc action ])roduced, 
and the metaniorphic changes subsequent, by oxydizing 
and other elements, conduciA'e to the formation of me¬ 
tallic gold, Avhether free or in combinations aforesaid. 

Jlut as the mass of mankind care but little about 
causes, and a great deal about results, and in a special 
manner Iioaa^ to get the greatest possible amount of gold 
in the least ])ossible amount of time, and at the least 
possible outlay, I Avill say. Buy of me immediately one- 
third of all the rights of those recently issued patents 
in all California, including all the gold-bearing quartzose 
regions AA^est of the Eocky Mountains, and immediately 
begin to reap a harvest of inconceivable returns for your 
investment, not only in the gold direct from its ores, but 
from the residuary liquor of flint as a Mse for an income 
far greater than that of the gold, when used in the groAv- 
ing city of San Francisco, as well as all the minor toAvns 
and cities noAV springing up in the whole of that rapidly 
groAving country of all countries in the known Avorld. 

For the full exi)lanation and proof of the last asser¬ 
tion, you are invited to read the chapter upon moulding 
AAdiite flint marble (appended to this chapter). But before 
I take up this subject, by far more lucrative than getting 
out all the gold the rock contains, at CA’^en the small 
outlay Avhich the estimates by those said patents claim. 
And in order that all interested in gold mining may be 
fully posted in the comparative as Avell as relatiA'e ])ro- 
cesses of most of the systems and methods heretofore 
])ursued by practical miners, I will here submit a recapit- 
idation of Prof. A. L. Fleury’s collected reports, as 
above stated. On the tAventy-fourth page of his reports 
Prof. F. says : 

“ 1 studied carefully the various processes in use, such 
as Keith’s, Whelpley and Storer’s, Dr. Hagan’s, Crosby 


23 


and Thompson’s, Dr. Ott’s, Eyason’s, and several others, 
all ot which are said to give perfect satisfaction. We 
Avill only give to them a rapid glance without comments. 

“ Tlie furnaces of Messrs. Whel^dey and Storer, in Bos¬ 
ton, have been described in most of onr mining journals ; 
they certainly look as if they could do some good work 
when i)roi)erly managed. The ore, finely pulverized in 
their centrifugal crushing and pulverizing machine, is 
blown, together with charcoal powder, down a vertical 
shaft or tower, the gases condensed, and then treated for 
the difterent metals. Keith oxydizes the i)ulverized sul- 
phurets by air in an upward or horizontal direction. 
Crosby and Thomi3son do the same in a revolving retort; 
they condense most of the volatile products. (I learned 
lately that they get from the condensed smoke as much 
gold as they extract from the roasted ore.) 

“ A very neat arrangement for roasting has been pat¬ 
ented, and is now being tested in Washington, D. 0., by 
Dr. Adolph Ott, of this city. The sulphurets pass suc¬ 
cessively through three separate superposed furnaces, in 
which automatic stirrers keep the ore in motion, and 
cause it to fall from one oven into the other, receiving 
three successive treatments, by which the ore is fully 
decomposed. The lighter metals, zinc, antimony, ar¬ 
senic, and bismuth, are condensed in separate chand)ers, 
and the suli)hurous gases subjected to a spray before 
they are allowed to escape through the chimney. Tlie 
desulphurized ore is then moistened by steam, and placed 
into a large tank, where it is treated with oxycliJorine gas, 
which rapidly converts the present gold into a soluble 
salt, the terchloride of gold—Au CF—which is leached 
out afterwards, either by pressure or by a centrifugal 
machine. The solution is then treated with sulpliate of 
iron, or other precipitant, and the pure gold taken from- 
it as a dark browii powder. Tliis is quite an improve¬ 
ment on Prof. Plattner’s successful chlorination process, 
and shows that the originator nnderstands what he is 
about. This process is also adapted for the treatment 
of silver ores. 


24 


Dr. Hagan's (lesnlpluiriziiig’ ])rocess with hydrogen 

gas and carbonic oxyd and acid; i)roduced by previous 
decomposition of steam by carbon, is, as 1 learn, worked 
(piite successfnlly for two years past in i)oth Grasse 
Valley, Nevada Co., California, and riymonth Ledge, in 
the same State. The Earelia or Byason ])rocess is also 
said to work well in the Mariposa State, in California. 
In this process, I learn, the disintegration, desulphuriza¬ 
tion, and extraction of gold by amalgam, are all pro¬ 
duced by the action of heated steam and mercury vapor 
on the ore wliile in a closed vessel, and the tailings run 
over a peculiarly constructed shacking table, so as to 
concentrate all the amalgam. 

“ We will now ])ass finally to another system, the smelt¬ 
ing method. AVhen a rich gold ore is heated in a rever¬ 
beratory or other furnace, and an appropriate material 
as flux added, the ore melts with it to a lujuid mass, in 
which the specifically heavier gold will collect, melt, and 
sink to the bottom. Soda, lime, oxyds of iron have been 
extensively used, and some to great advantage. By my 
experiments Avith the so-called iStevens jinx —the residuum 
from the cryolite Avheii Avorked for soda—I liaA^e been 
brought to the neAv idea that gold must exist in nature as 
a silicate of the oxyd of gold, chemically combined, for, 
by treating the same ore Avith other agents (fluxes that do 
not/a/by decomi)ose silica), I could not obtain the same 
results. 

“ This Stevens flux is superior to the natural fluor-spar, 
because it contains free oxyfluorine gas, Avhich has been 
absorbed by lime in a similar AA ay as chlorine is taken 
up by it in the bleaching i)OAvder, hence its greater efli- 
ciency. 

“ The fluorine has such affinity for the silica that it 
leaA^es the calcium, drives off the oxygen, and combines 
with the silicium to form fluor silicium and fluosilicic 
acid. The calcium takes up the oxygen, and forms lime. 

“ Thave lately seen some astonishing rOvSiilts jwoduced 
by the use of this flux Avith NoAn Scotia and Georgian 
ores. 


25 


“Mr. H. G. Hubert, of this city, has recently patented 
a system ot turnaces, in which he uses a mixture of flux 
and ore as continuous lining of the furnaces (either 
cupola or reverberatory), with an impervious carbon- 
bottom. This system cannot tail to come into use when 
this peculiar method of smelting shall have been better 
known and appreciated. 

“From the foregoing pages you will see that I have 
taken some pains to keep posted ; I may add that during 
the last three years I have visited many mines, mills, 
and metallurgic establishments, and have made numer¬ 
ous experiments in my own laboratory. Taking all 
points, the defects as well as advantages of the afore¬ 
mentioned processes, into consideration, I have followed 
an entirely distinct road to arrive at long-desired results 
—the extraction of all the gold, with the uiost advan¬ 
tageous utilization of the refuse. 

“ By a series of new processes, recently seCTired by let¬ 
ters patent, I can not only obtain a complete solution of 
the quartzose ores in ivaier, hut also a complete chemical 
decomposition of the silica itself, so as to eliminate all that 
gold that has hitherto been lost, because I believe that it 
exists in the quartz in chemical combination. 

“ Tlie best feature, however, and that which distin¬ 
guishes this process from the old quartz-dissolving x>i*o- 
cesses, is that the hydrate of silica which I obtain (having 
no alkali), and which I receive as refuse, can be used for 
something better than for adulterating soaj), and is 
worth at least one dollar a gallon, if sold only for a fire, 
water, and weather-proof paint, to say nothing of its use 
in tlie manufacture of cast {not compressed) jlint-marhle, in 
the shape of statuary, fountains, mantels, tables, monu¬ 
ments, floors, and ornaments of all kinds.” 

Prof. Fleury closes his lecture in an eulogy upon me, 
and refers those whose interest he may have awakened 
to these subjects, to myself, as the only one who is au¬ 
thorized to either sell or work his patents. 

Ft is now my business to describe and fully elucidate 
both our modes of o])erating and estimates of same. 

4 


COMBINED riiOCESSES FOR M'ORKING GOLD ORES, AND 
USING THE LIQUID SILICA IN THE ARTS. 


Tlie American patents, in wliicli an interest is offered, 
cover the following- operations : 


1. Complete desnlpliurization of i)yrites and metallic 

snlplmrets. 

2. Tlie extraction of gold and silver from desnlplinrized 

ores or tailings by a new system of amalgamation. 

3. The solution and chemical decomposition of the 

qiiartzose gold ores in the Avet way, and Avithont 
the use of either soda or potassa, by an entirely iieAV 
process. 

4. The ntilization of the refuse material for hre-proof 

porcelain paint, floors, pavements, and all kinds of 
ornamental stone and marble Avork. 

5. The mannfacture of sulphide of silicium and hydrate 

of silica, Avith its many uses, either made from sand, 
silicates, or quartz, and utilizing the sulphur ob¬ 
tained by the desulphurization of the sulphurets. 

We Avill consider the adAnntages of these processes 
over all others now in use, and speak: 

1. Of the System of Desulphurization .—In our com¬ 
bined in'ocess AA^e desul])hurize the ores in a complete 
manner, because AA^e first bring the ground sulphurets 
in close and most intimate contact with carhon and hydro- 
yen, Avhereby the various complex sulidiur combinations 
are broken up into more simple compounds, and are, Avhen 
the ore is treated Avith alternate jets of air and steam, 
made mncli more ready to give off all the sul])hur, Avhile 
the gold is kept back Avith the carbon. 

2. The Extraction of Gold hy Amalgamation is per¬ 
formed by passing, by hydrostatic pressure, the puWerized 


27 


ore* after it lias either heen treated with chemicals, or 
been desulphurized, in contact tvith hot water, and thor¬ 
oughly stirred, thiiougii a heated hath of mercury, briug- 
iiig thereby the water as well as every particle of ore into 
close contact with the mercury. We use no copper plates, 
and have our apparatus so arranged that the mercury 
that carries the gold floivs hy its otvn iveight into a retort, 
where, by a simple vacuum arraiigemeut, the mercury is 
distilled hach again from whence it came, and the gold and 
silver are left in the retort. This is all done automatically, 
and without additional cost. One luachiiie, capable of 
treating 10 tons of ore per day, with only one man (at a 
cost of 50 cents per ton), can be constructed/or S1,000. 
A portaMe machine, connected Avith a five horse-power 
engine, Avith a capacity to Avork 10 tons of taiLugs jier 
day, can be made/or $2,000. 

3. The is^EAV quartz-dissolving process differs from all 
others in several distinct features: (ci) We use neither soda 
nor qwtassa. (b) We do not only liquidize the quartz in 
water, but decompose chemically the silica as well as silicates, 
and thereby liberate not only the free gold, hut get also 
that which in many ores is chemically comhined and locked 
up in the refractory matrix, (c) The refuse, the liquid, 
from Avhich, by ])assing it through my amalgamator, “Ave 
lirst abstract all the gold,” is not throivnaivay, hut utilized 
by Mr. Hardinge in various ways. One ton of quartz yields 
about 000 gallons of a hydrate of silica, Avhicli Avhen mixed 
l)roperly Avith other tons of puh^erized silica and the right 
(piantity of crystallizing agencies, forms Avith them a 
cheap and jire-proof porcelain paint, and suiiersedes the 

* Let it be also remembered tliat my recently improved Pestle-^Iill, 
combining every advantageous power—viz., a circular inclined plane and 
pullics—strikes eight hundred blows per minute, will do three times the 
work of any other, and delivers the pulverized ore in the center, like a 
flouring mill. 

I must here enter my disclaimer against all iron or steel mills. So 
long as quartz will grind a cast-steel ax, so long will quartz grind chilled 
iron or cast-steel quartz mills.— JIardinge. 


28 


further use of linseed oil or white lead or spirits of tur¬ 
pentine. This alone, without mentioning the adaptability 
of this liquid for the manufacture of ornamental flint 
marhle, by casting the liquid, mixed with sand and lU’oper 
crystallizing agents, into molds like i^laster of Paris, gives 
to the hydrate of silica a value of at least $1 iwr gallon. 
The vrofit derived from the sale of this article is hy far 
greater than the cost of treating the quartz, and if we take 
into consideration the facility with which select quartz 
can be shipx)ed to Boston and Neiv Yorh from Nova Scotia 
and the Atlantic coast and Central America, and the de¬ 
mand for fire, ivater, and rot-qyroof paint and moulded 
stones, statuary, fountains, floors, roofs, pavements, etc., we 
cannot but feel confident of the success of this our enter¬ 
prise. 

4. The treatment of x)ure silica by the last-named 
sulphide of silicium process, for the puri)ose of obtaining a 
pure quartz solution, a hydrate of silica without alhali (the 
water supplanting the base), has still another and very 
valuable advantage, for by it all the sulphur that is 
ejected by the desulphurization of the sulphurets is therein 
utilized. 


From this very condensed statement, it can be seen 
that these combined processes show: 

1. Great economy, because nothing is lost; all the 
refuse is made valuable. 

2. Great saving of time and labor. 

3. Effectiveness and increased yield of precious metals 
over and above other processes, because, as the silica that 
holds the gold either in fine ditfusion or chemical com¬ 
bination is in this x)rocess completely decomposed, all the 
gold can be extracted. 

4. An unpkecedented Profit. The utilization of 
the hydrated silica, as well as of all the oxyds, vapors, 
etc., can clear a large profit, and reduce the expense of 
extracting the gold from a ton of ore (which will cost 
about $10 a ton) actually to nothing ; for the sale of 


20 


the liquid from the working of one ton of ore can scarcely 
bring less than $900 ! What hiisiness, ive aslc, can exhibit 
such revenue f 

I am now making arrangements for bringing rich 
gold-bearing quartz from Nicaragua, Central America, 
to New York, and also from Nova Scotia to Boston. 
JNIy object is, first, to dissolve the quartz, and secure all 
the gold ; secondly, to make hundreds of thousands of 
gallons of the only article of liquor of flint tit to use as 
a base for the purposes aforesaid, and hereafter x>crfectly 
described. And in order to give a clear and correct un¬ 
derstanding of what I mean, I will first announce in this 
department tliat it is knoAvn to very many that whole 
cargoes of white sand (or in scientific language, granu¬ 
lar quartz or silica) are being Aveekly brought 

down the Hudson Elver to New York city and Brook¬ 
lyn, for making flint glass; and that inexhaustible banks 
of tliis sand, pure snow white silica, have been recently 
found in various places and at different i)oints in the 
United States, liandy to easy transj)ortation by navi¬ 
gation ; and because of competition in seeking a mar¬ 
ket, 1 am ottered this beautiful, i)ure granular quartz, 
as white as the imrest snow, for a small price per ton. 

Now be it known and well remembered that, by the 
working of the patents hereinbefore mentioned, I dis¬ 
solve one ton at a time, either of this said granular 
(piartz, or of the crushed gold-bearing white quartz of 
Central America or from Nova Scotia: Every ton of 
quartz thus dissolved in water, through this new j^ro- 
cess, viz., by sulxdiide of carbon first forming sulidiide 
of silicium, thence into liquor flint; the quartz rock held 
in i)erfect solution in water at very little cost. Nine 
hundred gallons of this said liquor siliccii will weigh about 
live tons. These live tons of liquor of flint, together 
Avith other crystallizing agents, form the l>ase to mix 
with several other tons of the crude snoAv-Avhite sand 
above described, and cast into moulds Avithout heat or 
pressure, in the same manner as gypsum is cast in 


30 


moulds. And iiotAvitbstanding it is the crude white 
sand which constitutes the major part of the entire 
Avhite liint statue, obelisk, bust, cornice, bracket, archi¬ 
trave, lintel, mantel, or the thousands of things thus 
cast in moulds, the surface will always correspond with 
' the mould. If the mould be as smooth as glass, the cast¬ 
ing will be the same. If, on the contrary, a colossal 
statue is to be cast, the nioidd will be made to cor¬ 
respond with the iritted surface of same as in the chis¬ 
eled statue of colossal size. But in all cases the 
li(pidr of flint base (together with its crystallizing 
agent) tills all interstices, and hence, I repeat, that 
the surhice is as smooth as the mold can be made of 
any ordinary material. The castings are all in the 
cold, wet ivmj, and ivithoiit pressure. Flat surface cast¬ 
ings tind their own polish level, as smooth as a looking 
glass, and when hardened, cannot be scratched with 
emery. All obelisks, or allegorical sacred devices, 
with their respective pedestals and entablatures, plain 
or in lasso-relievo, to be introduced into cemeteries, 
impervious to all weather for centuries. AVhereas our 
Vermont statuary marble, being a soft carbonate of 
lime, begins to decompose in three years. 

Pure silica, first held in solution in water, by the 
processes hereinbefore described, and then prepared 
with the necessary crystallizing agencies, will, in obe¬ 
dience to its first law of crystallization, form a base 
which fastens upon the granular silex (or sand), taking 
up the exact amount of water of crystallization belong¬ 
ing to the original formation of quartz rock described in 
my chapter upon “The Original Formation of Bocks,” 
&c., and it is just at the moment when the process of 
crystallization begins that the batch is turned into the 
molds. I will here remark that while the laws of tlie 
crystallization of quartz are the same, yet the action 
varies as to the time, in accordance with combinations, 
&c. The reader of this prospectus is referred to the 
proofs submitted at my lectures some years ago upon 


31 


the oriolnal formation of the rocks, proving that fonr- 
hfths of the rocky portions of our globe were of quartz- 
ose formation ; and of aqueous and not igneous origin. 

It has cost the writer of this iwospectiis eigliteen 
years of ardent study, together with thousands of ex¬ 
periments in so concentrating the i)rocesses that they 
will develop combinations of quartz, flint, or silica, 
in floral organisms, as well as rocks. The last five 
years of dense thought, untiring zeal, and unceasing 
labor, have resulted in the production of moulded ta¬ 
bles of snow-white flint marble ; into whicli are simul¬ 
taneously cast liquid mineral oxyds of such chosen 
colors as will so arrange themselves through and tlirough 
tlie white table bed (while it is also in a liquid state) ; 
that the colors, being also taken up by the same crystal¬ 
line vehicle, spontaneously form in vines and flowers in 
the most natural directions, and alternate forms and en- 
twinations, without my guidance or interference ; occu¬ 
pying not over fifteen minutes in forming a slab or table 
of any shape. All of which become a homogeneous flint, 
which appears to have been quarried out of a fossilized 
flower garden ; retaining all their bright colors and neu¬ 
tral tints with buds and green leaves ; not only upon the 
surface but the same natural phenomena i)ervade through 
the entire slab, or urn, or bathing-tub, or anything else 
designed for palatial grandeur. 

Tables of malachite are as quickly and cheaply formed 
as anything else, with the trifling exception of the gTcen 
mineral oxyds forming the coloring. See the diftereiice 
in the cost of these with the Eussian malachite. See a 
very small stand-to}) of the latter at the far-famed store 
of Messrs. Ball, Black & Co., “price $400 in gold.” 

Now, it will have been discovered by the intelligent 
reader, that we mold our rocks, from their original ele¬ 
ments, into synthetical solids in any form we desire ; and 
when they are taken from the molds they are as smooth 
as glass, i)roviding the mold is smooth ; notwithstanding 
the main body of the material is the crude white sand. 


32 


It is the crystallizing’ agent in the liquor of flint which 
coinifletes the solid in the interstices, and hence the 
smoothness of the surface. 

If these statements are true, then we think the im¬ 
portation from Italy of statuary inarhle, at such high 
prices in the rough blocks, and the everlasting sawing, 
chiseling, pecking, grinding, and flnishing, for months 
together, and sometimes for a year or more, upon one 
design, Avill shortly be superseded, and the great num¬ 
ber of marble-yards uoav in the United States will have 
been reduced to a dozen works, which can supply the en¬ 
tire demand at one (piarter the price, and a better and 
more durable snoiv-white silicio^is marNe, saying nothing 
of the unrivaled beauty in tables, etc., before described. 

And now, with reference to casting the onyx, the sar¬ 
donyx, the cameo, and others, in medallion, or other di¬ 
visions, with the white in l)asso-relievo, either small or 
large, colossal when set in entablature in the flnish of 
grand monuments or ])alatial buildings. These are cast 
as readily as though all were one color, by merely invert¬ 
ing the mold, and cast the white relief in a medallion 
head, or other ornamental iwojection ; then turn in the 
next color, and when your design is turned out of the 
mould, your joint is as perfect as a liquid level can make 
it; and this is the way the original were deposited in 
lamina, but not in molds ; and hence the great trouble 
of the lapidary to give us the design in bas-relief. 

Having submitted a comprehensive expose of the most 
weighty department of my intended business, so far as 
avoirdui)ois is concerned, it comes within my iwovince to 
now explain an inconceivable additional claim u])on us, 
as soon as our works shall have been put into operation. 
Our said liquor of flint, when mixed with the snitable 
material to form cold porcelain, and thi^ spread upon 
walls, will immediately harden into a perfectly white 
porcelain, and will resist everything that ])orcelain re¬ 
sists. Wlien colors are required in neutral shades, the 
right kind of mineral oxyds will be kept by us, Avith 


33 


• 

directions to the j)ainter. The Italian and other fresco 
painters will be supplied also. 

The painters and grainers will be supplied with the 
suitable semi-transi)arent oxyds which work with our 
liquor of flint, such as burnt terra de sienna and terra de 
cassel for mahogany, and unburnt umber for oak, same 
for maple, satinwood, etc.* All houses will^be fire-proof 
throughout. And when we remember the cheapness of 
our material, we must predict the immediate end to the 
demand for white lead or zinc white, linseed oil, spirits 
of turpentine, copal varnish, etc. 

We shall furnish a suitable cold porcelain to be cast 
one inch thick ui^on floors, with instructive designs for 
either mosaic or cari)et-like colors. Also, for roofs, 
white, with the coarser white sand sprinkled upon them ; 
they will resemble snow-crust in appearance ; are also 
tire-proof, and the best non-conductor; will also have 
a tendency to keep the chambers cool. 

In conclusion, I am bold to announce that when men 
shall learn to build and carry out the determination with^ 
reference to the flre-i)roof finish, we shall cease to read 
the almost daily reports of the losses of millions of dol-' 
lars by fire. 

In my recent visit to Boston, where I was invited to 
lecture upon the “Original Formation of the Kocks,” 
and the progressive developments of floral and animal 
organisms ; through what laws and agencies the sixty- 
five elements of matter were generated, throughout the 
six divisions of time, up to the Adamic period, etc., and 
having been cordially invited before several of the halls 
of science in our modern Athens, it may be well to sub¬ 
mit some of the evidences of approbation there. 


* Grainers will be instructed in the production of an artificial stone 
tieneer upon doors, &c., in variegations, representing the “ knarled oak ” 
(Pollard oak). No blaze of fire will have any effect upon those porcelain 
veneers. They are also impervious to the weather or friction; hence, very 
durable. 


5 





34 




REPORT OF A COMMITTEE APPOINTED BY THE LEGISLA¬ 
TURE OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

The foiloTving’ is a synopsis of the evidence submitted 
to the undernanied in their official investigations into 
the merits, value, and promise of extent of revenue to 
the State of Massachusetts, should the charter be granted 
to incorporate the “Boston White Flint-Marble Com¬ 
pany,” under proper restrictions, and under the super¬ 
vision of Messrs. Hardinge, Fleury, and their associates. 

“Mr. Hardinge appeared in person before us, and 
minutely explained the results of long years of experi¬ 
ments in his peculiarly manufactured Inpiid quartz, or 
liquor of flint, as it is generally termed, some of which 
he presented before us as clear as water. He turned out 
some of this Jiqiiid flint, and before our eyes formed it into a 
semi-solid, and from thence into a solid semi-transimrent 
stone, resemblincf opaf. 

“ He then produced specimens of ivhite stone which lucre 
evidently cast in moulds. 

“ He then showed us plain pieces which had been cut 
into shape with a knife when in a soft state, but which 
would ring when struck, and appeared flint-like in hard¬ 
ness. 

“ He then showed us others which were colored. To 
the reality of which. Prof. Clark, of Amherst College, 
and member of the Massachusetts Legislature, in his 
own person before us declared, not only tjiat he had 
proven that the material ])resented to us was what it 
claimed to be, but that it demanded our a])probation, 
and the official attention of the Legislature. 

“ Other persons of high standing and respectability, 
have been before us in relation to this subject, and we 
have therefore reported accordingly, and hoi)e and trust 
that the proper charter will be granted.” 


4 


35 

The committee appointed by the Senate and House 
of Eepresentatives consisted of lion. Messrs. Pond and 
CnASE, of the Senate, and Messrs. Pollard, Patch, 
WosoN, Neediia^m, and Staat, of the House of Eepre¬ 
sentatives. I subsequently received the following letter: 

“Boston, May 1, 1807. 

“Prof. B. Hardinge : 

Dear Sir ,—It affords me great ideasure to testify to 
the value of the discovery you have made, of a process 
for dissolving silica, and using the solution as a cement 
for uniting particles of sand, gravel, and even small 
stones, into a linn and durable mass, which may not 
improperly be called “Hint marble.” This marble, if 
made of white Berkshire sand, may be as beautiful as 
the purest Italian statuary, and yet remain entirely 
unalfected by exposure to our severe New England 
climate. 

“But by marvellous ingenuity you have devised means 
for imparting to this spotless stone any desired tint of 
color, which may be either dittused equally throughout 
the mass, or distributed in bands and veins. 

“The value of the ‘flint marble’consists, however, 
largely in its capability of being cast in moulds, i)recisely 
like gypsum. 

“ Theflgures thus formed take the polish of the mould, 
and ])ossess the hardness of flint and agate. 

“I am confldent that, under suitable management, a 
very profitable and extensive business might be built ui) 
upon the basis of your discovery. 

“AVith best wishes for your success, I remain, very 
truly yours, 

“W. S. CLAEK, 

“ Professor of Chemistry in Amherst ColleyeP 

I will here state, that notwithstanding the stringent 
law passed by the last session, making it the imperative 


* This gentleman is not only a member of the Massachusetts Legislature, 
but kno^v^l to fame for his scientific skill and ability as a chemist. 









36 

duty to grant no charter unless it be clearly and une¬ 
quivocally shown that such charter shall be for a truly 
practical, iwofitable, and i^raiseworthy object; hence the 
special investigation above alluded to. The following is 
the title of the charter which has just passed and signed 
by Governor Bullock: 


CH AETEE. 

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

In the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty- 

seven. 

An Act to incorporate “The Boston White Flint 
Marble Company.” 

Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
in General Court assembled., and by aiUhority of the same., as 
folloivs: 

Section 1. Benjamin Hardinge, * * * * 

[Here follows the charter in “due form”], signed 
as follows: 

In House of Representatives., May 29, 1867, passed to be 
enacted. 

JAMES M. STONE, Speaker. 

In Senate^ May 29, 1867, passed to be enacted. 

JOSEPH A. POND, President. 

May 30, 1867. 

Approved, 

ALEX. H. BULLOCK. 

Having thus prepared the way in Boston, for the 
supply of the New England States, with the view of 
organizing a company at no distant day, after the busi¬ 
ness shall have been established in New York (my resi¬ 
dence being here), I hereby respectfully submit these 
(with the following) pages not only to the speculative 
and curious, but to the careful attention and closest criti¬ 
cism of the learned, the wise, and most intelligent savans 
of this age of scientific investigation. See Appendix, 


APPENDIX. 


I will now append a few remarks as an epitome —a 
recapitulation of some original points of interest to in¬ 
telligent readers. Albeit, the class of men who are prac¬ 
tically engaged in scientific pursuits is small; but, 
nevertheless, the intelligent masses are waking up to an 
unprecedented inquiry, not only in relation to their own 
anomalous compound as a pliijsicalhj and mentally organ¬ 
ized being, but of what materials we are made, and by 
what laws are kept in motion, and what our world is 
made of and kept in motion, and when and where trees 
come from J and what they are, and of what every indi¬ 
vidual thing is combined and hoAV, without the trouble 
of much study or of inpch thinking. Unless new things 
are presented upon vehicles of familiar thoughts and ex¬ 
citing similitudes, in common homiletic language, and 
(as my scientific friend. Prof. A. L. Fleury, has told you), 
1 have an irresistible propensity to illustrate the most 
abstruse scientific subject by some amusing anecdote— 
because my judgment and experience tell me that I sacri¬ 
fice dignity for the benefit of my inquiring neighbor or 
intelligent friend. Albeit, there are and always have 
been, and always will be stony ground hearers, at all lec¬ 
tures or homiletical sermons. These but eat, drink, 
sleep and die—to manure a crop of Ulte transmissions! 
Put these pages are dedicated to a very large class of 
progressive intelligences ; and aside from my more im¬ 
portant objects of presenting the foregoing pages to the 
public, and more especially to the dearly bought intelli¬ 
gence of practical gold-miners and their associated 
capitalists ; also aside from the greater, and by far the 



38 


most lucrative as well as the most extensive in prospectn, 
viz: the monlding into synthetical solids the white flint, 
&c., &c., described in these pages last aforesaid, thus util¬ 
izing' the liquor of flint in forming the base of the vastly 
extensive and vastly varied business last described. 

Aside from all this, there exists another prompting to 
all the foregoing exidanations, and that consists in the 
fact that common observation, together with the meagre 
history of the past relative to the subjects of my long- 
years of ardent investigations, always accompanied with 
thousands of practical experiments ; the result of those 
long years of incessant toil in heretofore unexplored 
fields, floods and caves of geological mysteries; from 
Avhich explorations and tested facts I am now able to 
l)resent a Geological Text Book, for the use of Schools^ 
Colleges and Academies. See my Hand-Book upon the 
“Formation of the Earth,” origin of the rocks, trees, 
plants and animals—the progressive types of the latter, 
their alternate developments by culture, climate, trans¬ 
mission of qualities, &c,, &c., from the first formation of 
our globe into a gaseous nebul?|, thence into a semi¬ 
fluid, thence fluid, thence semi-solid, through those first 
generated elements which generated the laAvs i)rogres- 
sively and simultaneous in their action in the said pro¬ 
gressive accumulation and atomic aggregation of matter: 
And the time and times (upon scientific calculations) 
from the first nebulous formation to the close of the first 
creative ^Ajome'^ or creative division of the ^Ajomimfi^ 
or six creative divisions (recorded by the inspired Moses 
in the Hebrew^ language), together with my owm inter¬ 
pretations not only of the number of thousands of years 
in the aggregate down to our iwesent or final 

day of anofher deposit of combiistive agents, w'hich w lien 
sufficiently combined with the now immense amount of 
latent spontaneously deposited volcanic agents, now^ be¬ 
ginning to be heard and felt in certain new localities, and 
admonish us that they are the certain signal-guns, in¬ 
creasing ''eartliqnalxes in divers filaces ” prior to the univer¬ 
sal roar of God’s own artillery! There will be a suffoca- 


39 


tion of every breathing animal; who in the last effort to 
escape affrighted from the nearest volcano, which shall 
have buried a city, a forest or a village in its resistless 
vortex, will fall lifeless by the inhalation of carbonic oxyd. 
See whole explanations, with causes and effects a iiriori 
ad ])osterius^ with scientific i)roofs which are minutely 
presented, and the consequent reasons. A posteriori ad 
jrriiis, for the sure and certain results last aforesaid, fully 
explained and exemplified in my said coming book above 
mentioned, which will be found along with this and two 
other books (from my exclusive pen) in every principal 
book store in New York city, explanatory of all; together 
with the time, &c. Fear not yet, my awakening reader ! 
you and I have time, perhaps, to further usefulness in 
this little world of ours before the final consummation 
just laintly alluded to. I say little world, because it is 
very small in comparison to Jupiter; but I find it big 
enough for my full comprehension—don’t you? espe¬ 
cially as the time allotted to you and me,- and all the rest 
of us, is too short to fill up any more than a small por¬ 
tion of those progressive susceptibilities which God in 
his goodness has vouchsafed to man. But there is hope 
in a future progressive sublimity of the liberated soul 
(when those terrestrial cords are cut), shall soar away 
on ui)per spheres, from anxious cares and tears, entering 
into that unknown transition of new^ s})iritual suscepti¬ 
bilities of sublimer themes than belong to men to attemi)t 
to describe, l)ut which we may presume to suppose are 
also progressive in their approach toward God’s own in¬ 
telligence, as long as ^immortality endures A 

But excuse me patient, or impatient, reader, as the case . 
may be. Our occupations while here are terrestrial 
though varied. It is written that “by the sweat of his 
face man shall eat his bread and every philosoi)her 
knows that if he don’t sweat by locomotive action, he 
will not enjoy eating very long. Therefore let us keep 
to our subject. 

Thomas Dilworth, in his elocutionary elements and 


40 


lessons in brevity of speech and writing, illustrates not 
only the latter scriptural idea by— 


“ Go to the plough or team, the hedge or ditch ; 

Some honest calling use, no matter which 

but our said very old master, Thomas Dilworth, in his 
interdicting the too frequent use of the ^conjunction 
“and,” happened to illustrate by the following sentence: 
“Nature clothes the Beasts with hair, the Birds with 
featherSy ‘ and ’ the Fishes with scales y Our veneral)]e 
old master Dilworth’s book (in octavo, calf bound, with 
all its contents and copper line engravings), though out 
of i)rint for the last half century, left valuable as well as 
lasting imiwessions. 

But Mr. Dilworth did not tell us how nature clothed 
the heasts with hairy the hirds with feather Sy and the fishes 
with scales. I presume Mr. Dilworth did not know : and 
a further evidence tliat he (or others) did not know, was, 
that had he known, he could have given us a much longer 
column of illustrations before it was necessary to write 
the “aad” before the last illustrative noun. And as 
nobody has either carried out the catalogue or told us 
hoiv dame ^^Nature^^ does those things, 1 will exx)lain, 
as far as space will permit, the how, why and wherefore 
“ sulphide of silicium ” (or “liquor of flint ”) is both eaten 
and drank by men and all other animals, and also drank 
and absorbed by all trees and xflants, all the Crustacea 
family from infusoria to mammoth bivalves, to build up 
in laminae the stone houses of the latter, the framework 
and table-i)lated epidermii of the bones and teeth, lami¬ 
nated horns, hair, nails, &c., of animals, tlieonijx^ that 


* “ Onyx ” is tile Hebrew as well as tlie Greek word for horns and nails 
of animals. The insjiired Moses saw in liis vision, and wrote of the neic 
genera {mammalia) of docile, ruminating, horned and hoofed quad¬ 
rupeds, for man’s domestic control as well as food. In contradis¬ 
tinction from the millions of ferocious dragon and crocodilian genera^ 
forty feet in length, as now proven (by their petrified remains) to have 
existed through the long carbonic period: But all destroyed by the uni¬ 
versal volcanic action from which “ A mist went from the earthy’'"' &c. See 
ray lectures upon the “ Fonnation of the Earth.” 




41 


the inspired Moses alluded to in his ermtire account (see the 
Hebrew and Greek); also in forming the elongated hexigon- 
formed fibre of trees, stalks and grass, the supernatant 
residuum (in obedience to a law in the physiology of all), 


thrown to the surface to he further carbonized, &c., so 
that the enamel thus deposited upon the surface .of the 
Malacca cane of your great grandfather, and the enamel 
of his teeth and razor-hone and gun-flints, the vegetaMe 
ivory thimble of your grandmother, are results of the 
spontaneous existence of “sulphide of silicium.” Thus 
while you now' eat green corn,” you eat a\\ the silica 
w'hich (had it been left ui)on the stalk) would have 
formed the flint coating, like other cereals, as w'ell as 
their stalks, and of every spear of grass, to produce and 
reproduce the bony framew ork and cartilaginous tissues, 
&c., of animals. 

My relation of an illustrative anecdote before the 
“ Massachusetts Historical Society,” in answ^er to a ques¬ 
tion put to me by the President, I)r. Jackson, will 
admirably explain our subject. It has never been printed, 
excepting in the reports of record in the archives of said 
Institute, in accordance w ith a resolution passed on said 
occasion. Albeit, it is not the printing of these, or any 
other facts or theories of mine now coming out before 


the great critical world of scientific investigation ; hut facts 
proven constitute the motto Magna est veritas et prevale- 
hitf w hile all unproved theories only fill up the budget 
of confused false teachings, which it becomes the duty 
of every scientific man to empty out, unravel, search, 
analyze, and i^resent an expose of reasoning upon defia- 
tory scientific arguments. But to our “anecdote,” 
W'hich, in short, illustrates four or five iuii)ortant scien¬ 
tific points, then, as well as now in question: 

It was in 1854 that a selected specimen of gold- 
hearing quartz w^as presented before the dilated eyes of 
eighteen enterprising young ^^ew Englanders, w'ho, 
tempted by the most seductive of all attractions, left their 
and sw'eethearts ea route overland via the ''South 


G 


42 


Prtss,” Eocky Mountains, wliere, their weary limbs to rest, 
(bivouaced for the night under a projecting ledge, during 
a thunder-storm,) * * * * 

By westward current stream, 

^ Through dreary night by hunger press’d, 

“ And ‘ Salem ’ was the mournful theme ” 

of him, the chosen pilot; while three hardy ship-builders 
from Barnstable were dreaming of doubling Cape Horn 
in a gale of wind, with the extinguishing light of hope 
glimmering upon a far, distant promontory; another 
dreams of ballasting a sliij) with gold-bearing quartz; 
while one from Boston dreamed of breaking his (Maine- 
law) ])ledge in the rain, up a dark alley in Winter Street; 
another from Lynn, dreamed of steam-tanned calf-skin, 
split-leather and wet feet; another of a choir-service 
and the loud peal of the organ i)rei)aratory to starting 
the “judgment-anthem,” when the lightning struck the 
steeple-rod and passed fluid into the ground and water 
all around liim ; another from Chicodee Factory, dream¬ 
ing of his (imitation) Scotch gingham,* and why the rain 
brought down upon his hands the black suli)hate of iron, 
besmearing the remains ot‘his coarse, tattered, and button¬ 
less bob-tailed gray (all of which he had bought on the 
exi)ensi\ e side of expensive Broadway). At daylight the 
storm was over and gone, and some dreamed of coming 
thanksgiving and quiet doxologies, others of retreat¬ 
ing deer across the interminable La Platte ; when they 


* Can anybody tell why we must send our cotton to Manchester (Eng¬ 
land) or to Glasgow, or anywhere else across the Atlantic, to have it dyed 
in fast colors for our umbrellas ? While England, France, and Germany 
give us of their richest textile fabrics in cotton, silk and linen, they impose 
u])on us in woolen beyond ordinary power of conception. They spin their 
coarsest wool into a fine thread ; it makes an apparently fine flannel; it i§ 
well dyed; the nap is raised with teazles; an oil finish makes it look like 
what it is marked with white silk letters, superjine,''^ and invoiced low for 
the American marhet. So much for our “ Broadcloth ” that wears out in 

three months! 





43 


were suddenly aroused by tlie flai)i)iiio' wings of a large 
flock of wild turkeys from a stream (containing gold- 
bearing quartz pebbles)' into the top of a tree directly 
over their heads. The gastric juices prompted the order 
of effects from their rifles, and down fell two of their 
suriu’ised visitors. “Let us see what they eat,” said 
Hancock Beals, as he turned out the crop. “Yes,” said 
Quincy Adams Lapham. “ Oh ! fire, love and hominy, 
here’s gold specks in all them gravel-stones!” as he 
exhibited an ovoid pebble an inch long and as large at 
one end as the little linger. “ So there is in mine ; look 
at ’em all! By hokey we’ll carry them as a curiosity.” 
And they did bring them home. But that “curiosity,” 
that very suggestive “ Ureka” ! That most marked though 
accidental index to the inquiry, viz : what did the rest of 
that flock of wild turkeys do with all the gold-bearing 
quartz-pebbles so (juickly picked up by them ? JS 2 )irit of 
old Master Dihcorth! of the last century’s teachings,—that 
“nature clothes the birds feathers,'^ —if you had but 

said clothed with “sulphide of silicium,” or li(pior of 
flint, and told us all about the facts that, albeit, the hlrds 
all have quartz mills, they use them to grind oats, corn, 
&c., while tliey dissolve the quartzose gravel and pelyhles 
in their digester, containing the generating agents of 
sulphide of carbon, phosi)hate of lime, and other sponta¬ 
neous solvent agents, assisted by status electricity. 
Every ])article of the quartz is held in perfect solution, 
and deposited in a succession of thin laniinm upon the 
feathers. Birds do not urinate. The gold specks arc 
voided in and amongst the smoothunaflected by 
anv of tlie solvents aforesaid. 

The supernatant sulphur is separated (by the organs 
of the female bird, as seen in the yolh of the egg), and 
ensconsed within a non-conducting membrane, which 
retains the other generated elements of vitality* indis¬ 
pensable to generating the chicken, while the common 


* See my chapter upon the generating elements of life and vital power. 






44 


shell (outside the said ovara, or silicioiis non-conductor) 
is a weak carbo-albuininate and sulphide of lime, &c., 
that it may partially decompose to give easy egress to 
the chicken. 

The reasons become obvious why the she-bird’s 
feathers are of coarser laminae, and not variegated like 
the male. But the gold-separating lesson constitutes 
the im])ortant particular upon the main subject of this 
pami)hlet. 

My way of lecturing ui)on these (as well as all other) 
subjects, ditters from those pursued by the schools. My 
oidy apology for it is, because it’s my way. If I am 
asked the component x)arts of yonder tree, I should 
answer that it is nearly half and half of oxygen and car¬ 
bon ; that it represents, in itself, a country grocery store— 
for, aside from yokes, rakes, and axe-handles, it contains 
soap, starch, vinegar, sugar, writing-i)aper, writiug-ink, 
bath-brick, tire-wood and charcoal, as you x)lease to use it. 
If I am asked where it came from, I could demonstrate 
thus ; Take an old iron tank that will hold a cart-load of 
gravel and aluminous soil; bake and weigh the soil; i)ut 
the baked dirt into the tank'which you sliall have per¬ 
forated, that it have plenty of water x)ercolating into 
and out of the tank; set it exi)osed to sun and rain; 
X)lant an acorn, and when you shall have raised a tree 
weighing 200 or 500 pounds, take it out, shake ott* all 
the dirt from its roots ; bake and weigh the dirt again ;— 
you have lost no dirt. Question: Where did this tree 
come from ? Answer: The atmosi)here, the rocks, and 
the other elements described in my i)ublications; and 
why “the tall Taiinan grows loftiest on loftiest and least 
sheltered rocks,” where there is but the least perceivable 
supx)ort of earth for roots among the fissures of the 
rocks. AVhere did the sixty-five elements of matter 
come from ? Answer: Eead my four x)amx)hlets. You 
will find there newly discovered facts worth knowing. 

Again I (like Doctor Abernethy) invite all to read my 
books. BENJAMIN IIAKDINGE, 

20 Waverhj Ft ace, near Broadway, N, Y. 














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